The Vancouver Canucks welcomed Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks to Rogers Arena on Wednesday night for their second game of the season. The Canucks got some relief from injuries leading up to the game when Conor Garland returned to the lineup. They were still without Teddy Blueger, Filip Chytil, Derek Forbort, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Nils Hoglander; However, Blueger and Lekkerimaki will be will soon wear contactless sweaters. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, were just without Jason Dickinson.
The Canucks played a dramatic game against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, with Brock Boeser beating the clock to send his team home with a 5-4 win. The Blackhawks last played on Monday when they lost 3-1 to the Seattle Kraken. Kevin Lankinen got the start for the Canucks, while the Blackhawks countered with Spencer Knight.
The match was a scoring duel for the first two periods until Tyler Bertuzzi opened the scoring in the third. He eventually scored two more to complete his fourth career hat-trick, with Ilya Mikheyev and Bedard completing the 5-2 wintheir first in 11 tries against the Canucks. However, the Blackhawks have their goaltender to thank for this, as he made 43 saves. He was on his way to a shutout, but Aatu Raty and Evander Kane finally solved him in the second half of the third period. Here is your game overview.
Summary of the game
Despite a close match in the first period, with the Canucks outscoring the Blackhawks 16-11 and both teams combining to create 24 scoring opportunities (nine high danger), the game remained scoreless. It was a fast, tense twenty minutes of hockey, but the goaltenders held on to keep the score at 0-0 heading into the break.
The shots and chances continued in the second period, mostly from the Canucks as they put 18 shots off Knight to the Blackhawks’ eight off Lankinen. Drew O’Connor thought he had opened the scoring early, but it was called back due to goalkeeper intervention. By the end of the middle frame, the Canucks outscored and defeated the Blackhawks 35-19 and 31-15 (14-8 high danger), respectively, but Knight and Lankinen remained perfect.
Surprisingly, the Blackhawks broke the game open in the third despite being heavily outshot and short on chances. Bertuzzi got the party started at 3:06 and eventually added two more to complete the hat trick and push his team to a 4-0 lead at 11:37. The Canucks made things interesting with goals from Raty and Kane, but Bedard made it icy in the final minute with an empty-netter to secure the 5-2 victory.
What’s next?
The Canucks will continue their short four-game homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, while the Blackhawks will travel to Calgary for a date with the Flames on Friday.
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